European Union/United States Joint Statement on Shared Objectives and Close Cooperation on Counterterrorism

1. The United States, the European Union and its member states are strategic allies in the global fight against terrorism—a grave threat to democracy, and to economic and social development. They oppose terrorism in all its forms, whatever the motivation of its perpetrators, oppose concessions to terrorists, and agree on the need to resist extortion threats. They condemn absolutely not only those who plan or commit terrorist acts, but also any who support, finance or harbour terrorists. They recognize that terrorism operates on a transnational scale, and cannot effectively be dealt with solely by isolated action using each individual state's own resources. They work together to promote greater international cooperation and coordinated effort to combat terrorism by all legal means and in all relevant bilateral and multilateral fora—from the Transatlantic Dialogue to the United Nations.

The International Legal Framework

2. Extradition and mutual legal assistance arrangements are in operation or will be developed between EU partners and the United States. The EU and US cooperate in the United Nations framework to elaborate the necessary international legal instruments for the fight against terrorism. They work in tandem to promote universal adherence to the eleven international counter-terrorism conventions. EU partners contributed to the rapid and successful negotiation of the most recent UN Convention (for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings) based on a draft proposed by the US. Now they are cooperating to consider the terms of a draft UN Convention on the Suppression of Nuclear Terrorism.

Areas of current EU/US mutual interest

3. (i) Terrorist Fund-raising: EU partners are pooling their knowledge and experience to work to cut off terrorists' sources of funding. They have agreed a set of action points, and their operational agencies are working on joint initiatives against terrorist funding. The US participated in an EU seminar in 1997 which shaped this work, is briefed regularly on current developments in this key area, and will take part in a follow-up EU seminar in Vienna in October 1998.

(ii) Chemical/Biological Terrorism and other threats: During the UK Presidency the EU and US have shared their thinking and compared best practice in the areas of CB terrorism, Terrorist arms trafficking and Bomb scene management.

(iii) The Middle East Peace Process: The EU briefs the US regularly on its current 3-year programme of counter-terrorism cooperation to enhance the effectiveness of the Palestinian Authority in this key area, including an extensive programme of human rights training. To strengthen EU/Palestinian links still further in the fight against terrorism, a declaration creating a joint Security Committee was agreed in April 1998. The Committee now meets regularly to discuss security issues.

EU/US Consultation and Information Exchange

4. Policy cooperation is developed bilaterally and at EU/US level. Operational cooperation, including intelligence-sharing, is handled bilaterally by national law enforcement agencies, and is given high priority. To identify and assess the scale of the terrorist threat, the EU member states and the US exchange information and assessments on terrorist trends and latest developments. The regular meetings on counter-terrorism between the US and the EU Troika of the Second and Third Pillars are used to exchange views on all aspects of terrorism policy, including trends in countries of particular current concern in the Middle East and elsewhere. Information is also shared on significant developments on either side of the Atlantic, eg the creation of Europol, which will include terrorism within its remit soon after its launch. The US has updated EU partners on the impact of its decision last October to designate 30 foreign terrorist organisations.

Further Cooperation

5. While recognising the wide range of work successfully accomplished hitherto, both sides see scope to strengthen further their close ties in the field of counter-terrorism, and are working to do so—by additional information-sharing at their regular Troika meetings, enhanced bilateral intelligence exchanges, and sustained cooperation at the United Nations and in other fora to advance their common objectives.